Abstract

The immune system is a self-defense system that preserves the integrity of organisms by eliminating foreign invaders and abnormal/damaged cells with high specificity. This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Prof. James P. ALLISON of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, US and Prof. Tasuku HONJO of Kyoto University, Japan for their discovery of cancer therapy by inhibition of negative immune regulation. The story began in the 1990s when they were investigating the biology of T cells, the central component of the immune system. They identified two proteins on the surface of T cells called CTLA-4 and PD-1 that act as a brake on T cells, which led to the establishment of the checkpoint model. Prof. Allison and another immunologist Prof. CHEN Lieping, who is currently affiliated to Yale University, later independently showed that switching off the brakes by blocking CTLA-4 and PD-1 signaling pathways significantly improved the immune system' s ability to eliminate tumors. This remarkable advance has opened a new paradigm for the treatment of human cancers. Indeed, the FDA approved the first PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor to treat melanoma in 2014. Since then, four other PD-1 inhibitors have been approved for the treatment of nine types of cancer.

About the speaker

Prof. WEN Zilong received his PhD in Molecular Cell Biology from the Rockefeller University in 1997 and postdoctoral training with Prof. Irving WEISSMAN at Stanford University. He was a Principal Investigator at the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology and the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology, Singapore, until 2007. He subsequently moved to Hong Kong and joined the former Department of Biochemistry at the Hong Kong University Science and Technology (HKUST) as an Associate Professor. He is currently a Professor of Life Science at HKUST.

For attendees’ attention

		The lecture is free and open to all. Seating is on a first come, first served basis.
		Light refreshments will be served from 4:30 to 5:00 pm.

HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study
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